The ambitions seem endless for the 12 students that make up the drone team
SDU Eagles. When the students started building their drone in 2018, the
first major challenge was to even get it in the air. Now, both the done and
the ambitions are reaching for the sky.
- We want to revolutionize the way we transport goods. We have created a
drone that flies on electricity and saves 30 % energy compared to other
standard drones, says SDU Eagles team leader André Rangel de Sousa, who is
studying Product Development and Innovation at SDU:
- Transportation is where most of our carbon emissions come from. But what
if we used the sky instead of roads? Using drones for transportation can be
very energy efficient.
First blended-box wing drone
The students in the drone team have developed the first blended-box wing
drone. This means that the drone has a special wing design that is
developed to make airplanes more energy efficient. The construction of the
wings means that the plane needs less energy to stay in the air.
- Our drone can transport goods weighing up to 2 kg. It has shown great
aerodynamic qualities, and the possibilities are huge.
-What if we can not only transport goods but also medicine, blood or fire
grenades that can be dropped by drones on emerging wildfires, André de
Sousa asks.
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This summer, SDU Eagles was named the most promising team at IMECHE UAS
Challenge 2019, an English drone competition for students.
Now, the team is working around the clock to get ready for the University
Startup World Cup, where SDU Eagles is in the finals.
- We are giving it everything we’ve got. The competition is making us push
our boundaries, because we want to win so bad. We believe that
participating in competitions ultimately makes us better engineers, André
Rangel de Sousa says.
Vertical takeoff and landing
The team is e.g. struggling with the implementation of vertical takeoff and
landing the drone.
If the drone can land and take off in a straight line, it is much more
useful in densely built-up areas with little room to land and take off.
- Vertical takeoff and landing for our drone will require a high-powered
propulsion and a very advanced control system. We need the electric ducted
fans that will power our new version. When we get them, we will be testing
them, before we try the fans on the drone.
But the fans and all the other electronic gear are very expensive, and the
ambitions and the finances need to cohere.
- We have been trying to get funding for 2 months now, buts it's a
complicated process; we are basically trying everything, André Rangel de
Sousa says:
- Not many students start drone projects. It is hard work and requires a
lot of dedication, because you fail so many times, before you succeed. But
we are lucky to be at a university with such great facilities and where we
feel very supported in our work.
SDU Eagles
The team consists of 12 students from SDU, representing eight different countries:
-
André Rangel de Sousa
- Ondrej Pokorny
- Vincent Yegenoglu
- Jonas Kianzad
- Nicoline Louise Thomsen
- Mark Bech
- Erik Koors
- Robert Pedersen
- Lasse Petersen Gudmandsen
- Yani Yankov
- Antonios Karageorgiou
- Krzysztof Zieliński